How did the iPhone gun apps beat the censors?

Controversy has hit the Apple app store once more this morning. Anti-violence groups and even members of the Metropolitan Police are outraged by the arrival of gun emulators on the iPhone. Their reasoning is largely that the apps are glamorising violence and undoing work to combat gun crime.

Whether this is true or not is a moot point. And in truth it is an argument for elsewhere – somewhere where lofty debate is a more natural fit. But although we won’t be wading into the controversy, we’re actually surprised that it’s been allowed to arise at all. Not least in view of how rigorous Apple’s approval policy has been in the past. You'd have thought that the likes of Boom Boom would have had no chance.

It’s especially odd that they got through given the kind of apps that have fallen foul of the restrictions. Previously we’ve seen the Obama trampoline game banned on political grounds. But surely it was pretty innocuous in comparison to gun emulators that explicitly flirt with trappings of a gangster lifestyle?

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